I think they under-exaggerate the severity of the error.
– Ben BrockaNov 4 '11 at 19:06

6

I think over-exaggerated is redundancy. I would avoid using it. Similarly, if something is unique, then it is unique, we don't call it very unique.
– Mehper C. PalavuzlarNov 4 '11 at 19:08

1

It was good enough for Toad: ‘Toad Hall,’ said the Toad proudly, ‘is an eligible self-contained gentleman's residence, very unique.’
– Barrie EnglandNov 4 '11 at 20:01

2

@MehperC.Palavuzlar: That definition of "unique" makes the word useless as everything is unique in that sense. When we say a car is "unique", we don't mean there is no other car exactly like it -- no two cars are exactly like. We mean it differs more from other cars than most cars do. Clearly this is subject to degrees based on how much it differs from those cars most similar to it.
– David SchwartzJan 29 '13 at 3:35

My initial thought is that over-exaggerated implies not only exaggerating, but exaggerating in a way that is excessive for the given context, or exaggerating to the point of absurdity. So, saying something like

It's correct. It means to exaggerate in a way which is inappropriate(ly excessive) for the circumstances. Exaggeration is a technique used to create interest in a story, but it's over-use (obviously subjective - some would call x over-exaggeration, some wouldn't) is over-exaggeration.

Over-Exaggeration doesn't make sense.
Exaggeration implies that something is changed in a way to make it more interesting to someone listening to the story.
I can see the point that others are making about it meaning more exaggerated, but the word exaggeration doesn't really end at any point.
Let's use the "Fish" example...
(Truth) a 30cm fish escaped from a pond
(Exaggeration) A 2m long fish escaped from the pond
(Exaggeration again) a 40cm fish escaped from the pond.
No matter how much you change the variable, it will always be Exaggeration. Therefore, over-exaggeration doesn't make any sense.

I think over exaggerated makes sense when you are comparing two things. Like the fish example,if someone said the fish was 5cm and the exaggeration was 2m then another person said it was 4000 yards long then that person is over exaggerating compared to the exaggeration before.

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